seeing red

after reviewing the cover art of the new printing of the novel, i was constantly thinking of color in the film, and in particular, red. it's all about red in the pajama game–if you look carefully (or even not that carefully), in almost every scene there are both dominant and subtle elements of red scattered throughout. i started making a list and had to stop because there were so many, but here are a few:
• red dresses, skirts, and ribbons on the girls of the factory
• babe's red shoes and the red piping on her blue coat
• red heart buttons (part of the union?)
• red in the factory lights, exit signs, pipes, and giant spools of thread
• sid's red bowtie in the opening scene, his red striped shirt at the picnic

the most important symbol of red came during babe's reprise of "hey there," in which she sings about her inner conflict over sid. she tells herself to get over him and not to "let him make her fall apart." when she gets to the word "pride," the traffic light outside her window flashes to angry red, coloring her bedroom and her body in red light as she lies on her bed.

is that what red is about? pride? it reinforces the proud, standoffish image of babe on the cover of the novel, flashy red dress and staring in self-absorption into her compact mirror. and it makes sense that in the end, this is what she sacrifices in order to be with sid, and in order to win the "7 1/2 cents" even when they can't get retroactive pay for it ("but don't you see? we've won!").

and what do sid and babe come out in at the end of the musical? one shared pair of red pajamas.